The Unbreakable (Ghost #3)

Chapter 56

Lia

Blake and I received a warm welcome from everyone in the family, much to my surprise. There are many people here, but I no longer feel nervous. They seem nice.

The first one to introduce himself was uncle Ethan. He's Anna's oldest brother, married to aunt Carla. They have three kids: 29-year-old Ryan, 17-year-old Chris and 10-year-old Peter. Then there's uncle Frank, also Anna's older brother, with his wife Joanne and two kids, 22-year-old twins Julian and Joel. From my mother's side there's also Robert, who told me call him Rob. He has a wife, Vanessa, and a 24-year-old son, Zach.

The other side of the family is just as big. There's Harry, his wife Emma and their kids: 26-year-old Gavin, 16-year-old Olivia, 14-year-old Lilith and 12-year-old Dylan, 'uncle' Luke, – he told me to call him that – 'aunt' Stella and their 19-year-old son Nolan, and uncle Oscar with his wife Zoe and their three sons: 19-year-old Silas, 18-year-old Ryder and 15-year-old Emmett. Surprisingly, everyone from Anna's late husband's family welcomed me in and told me that even though I'm not related to them by blood, I'm still family and they want me to see them like that.

So, all in all, I have six uncles, six aunts and fourteen cousins. I will definitely get their names wrong for a while.

My maternal grandfather, Alan, is the most emotional of them all. He's been constantly asking me things about my life and how I'm doing. He must've noticed that I was a bit overwhelmed at first and tried to comfort me whenever he could.

He's been keeping my hand hostage for the whole time as we sit on the sofa. I don't miss how he occasionally squeezes it, as if to make sure I'm still here.

"So, are you staying here for the New Year?" Ethan asks. We've been talking about the plans for my visit here, but I still haven't decided if I want to stay here longer than necessary.

"I don't know, really. We haven't talked about it yet." I glance at Blake, but he only shrugs, seemingly leaving the decision to me.

"It would mean a lot if you stayed for a while, honey. – Alan adds, squeezing my hand gently – It's our first year together..."

"Amelia, think about this. This is your family." Anna says, instantly worsening my mood. She better shut her mouth.

"Call me Amelia one more time and I'm out of here." I warn her with a sneer. She just keeps pushing my buttons.

"No, no, don't leave. Anna, can you stop? She already said to call her Lia so why are you like this?" Ethan admonishes sternly.

"It's the name I gave her when I gave birth to her. I'm not going to call her by the name some guy completely unrelated to our family gave her!" I can't help but scoff at this.

"So you don't consider Alexander you family? Because he's the one that called me Lia my whole life. That's of course until he left me." I rebuke harshly, glaring at the obnoxious woman in front of me.

"Don't speak of Alexander this way. He raised you in the best way he could." She counters. I roll my eyes at her stupidity.

"You're fucking deluded." I sneer. "He raised me? - I mock - Did you not fucking hear what I said? He left me like trash when I was just a kid! If you call that parenting then be my guest. You're no better than him anyway." I get up from the couch, fuming silently at the audacity of that woman. Blake quietly tugs at my hand and leads me to the front door. I don't miss Alan's pleading for me to stay, but I'm too fucking angry to bother.

"Give us a moment." Blake says as we go outside. I pace around the front porch angrily, trying to calm down as I'm once more reminded of what my biological father did. How can that fucking bitch defend him when she knows what he's done?! She fucking knows what I've gone through after getting dropped like fucking trash and she still thinks she has the right to say anything?!